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Grammar
Definite and Indefinite articles The definite and indefinite articles (the and a''') are used in Northumbrian as they are in standard English. In this written standard, the spelling '''the has been retained, as in standard English, but the has been spelt differently by some Northumbrian authors, with thi, th’ and tha also appearing. The definite article is elided to t’ in the Weardale dialect, as in Yorkshire dialect. Likewise, this standard will retain the standard English a''' and '''an to write the indefinite article, though the forms e ''' and '''en, as well as ya and yan were sometimes used in writing, ya and yan being used when the previous word ends in a vowel sound. The final '-n' in an is often ommitted in spoken Northumbrian. The indefinite article is used before yen or ane (one) when accusative, for instance dizzent he want a yen? 'for ''doesn't he want one?. Nouns The main thing worth mentioning about Northumbrian nouns is the larger amount of irregular plural forms when compared to standard English. The vast majority of Northumbrian nouns are formed the same way as standard English, by adding a final '''-s, however some Northumbrian nouns retain the old Anglic ending ''-n'' *'buss' (pl bussen): a kiss *'busk' (pl bussen): a tree, bush *'ee' (pl een): eye *'hoos' (pl hoosen): house *'hund' (pl hunden): leather straps *'pee' (pl pesen): pea *'plaig' (pl plaigan): fragment; toy *'sark' (pl sarken): shirts *'shough' (pl shoon): shoe In standard English, the plural form '-s' often voices a preceding unvoiced consant, for instance wife /waɪf/ to wives //waɪvz/, this does not occur in Northumbrian. *'loaf' (pl loafs): loaf, loaves *'wife' (pl wifes): wife, wives (or woman, women) *'mooth '(pl mooths): mouth, mouthes Other irregular plurals include: *'caaf' (pl caafs): calf, calves *'coo' (pl kye '''or coos'): cow, cows *'beast''' (pl beass): animal, animals (or beast, beasts) *'fut' (pl fit or fut): foot, feet *'moos' (pl moosfwoak): mouse, mice The following have no chance in the plural *'broth' (pl broth): broth *'eear' (pl eear): year, years *'nowt' (pl nowt): ox, oxen There is a tendency to use the plural form more often in Northumbrian than in standard English, for instance: *'nee objections': no objections *'ivvery noos an thens': every now and then Adjectives Northumbrian adjectives generally behave as in standard English, with some exceptions. Northumbrian heavily uses the ending ''-y'', equivalent to the German ''-ig'', as a way of turning a noun into adjective, however sometimes even putting the ending on a word which was already an adjective: *'baaldy': bald *'yellocky': yellow A double superlative form exists,which includes both the word for most ''('myest and '''maist) and the ending '-est', as opposed to standard English whihc uses only one or the other. This leads to forms such as: *'the myest bonniest': the most beautiful *'the myest canniest': the nicest *'the myest laangest': the longest *'the myest heeëst': the highest The comparative and superlative forms of good/better/best are worth a look: *'bettermer': better, superior *'bettermyest' (or bettermaist): best, most superior Personal pronouns Subject pronouns Who is an archaic form of she noted by Brockett, no longer used in modern Northumbrian however can still be considered part of the language. The second person plural pronoun is yees, but ye as a plural is also used. Northumbrian also mantains a T-V distinction, with the pronoun thoo. Thoo is used as the familiar form by parents speaking to children, elders to youngsters, or between friends or equals. The second person formal singular ye or you is used when speaking to a superior or when a youngster addresses an elder, similar to vy in Russian . In questions, thoo becomes the suffix '-ta ' *'hoo ista?' how are you? *'dista knaa aboot it?' do you know about it? *'whaat thinksta? '''what do you think? '''Ee' is typically used in a demonstrative way, similar to toi in French. For instance, hit's ee! meaning'' it's you.'' Verbs In the simple present tense start with the root e.g.' ken, addle' (with''' te/tiv''' this is known as the infinitive i.e.' te ken',' tiv addle') and add''' -s''' for the she/he form (but see below). For verbs ending in''' -sh',' -lch',' -nch',' -rch''' or''' -tch', add' -es''' e.g. she nivver fashes (she never worries). There are several features of the Northumbrian present that differ markedly from standard English. Present-tense verbs may take the verbal ‑''s'' suffix, except when they are directly adjacent to one of the personal pronouns Aa, ye, we, or thae as their subject. *'the gless wes clairty, the glesses wes clairty: '''the glass was dirty, the glasses were dirty *'the lassie eats fish',' the lassies eats fish: the girl eats fish, the girls eat fish *'''thoo knaas aal aboot it: you know all about it However: *'aa eat fish, thae eat fish, we eat fish:' I eat fish, you eat fish, we eat fish Present-tense third person plurals regularly take an '-s' if they don’t have the pronoun immediately before the verb *'thae ken aal aboot it:' the know all about it but *'yon lads kens aal aboot it' those boys know all about it *'Them that kens aal aboot it…' those who know all about it This feature even has a name, the ‘Northern Concord Rule’, as it is also found in Scots as well as some other Northern English dialects. Some controversy surrounds its origin. Some scholars (e.g., Graham Isaac) argue that it developed out of the Old English verbal endings by way of Northern Middle English (Inglis), but others (e.g., H. Tristram) argue that it could be a language-contact transfer feature from Cumbric, the Brythonic language historically spoken in Northern England and Southern Scots. Graham Shorrocks notes that a similar use of the historic present occurs in some dialects of north Germany. Some linguists have expressed a very strong opinion in favour of the language contact theory. John McWhorter for instance called the Northern Subject Rule a "bizarre trait", and claims that similar phenomena are otherwise only known in VSO languages (found in Brythonic languages like Cumbric), and rare even in that case. Historic present A ‘present-historic’ narrative form is very common, adding an '-s', is often used when telling stories. Sae we gans up tiv him an aa says ‘gan hyem!’ So we went up to him and I said ‘go home!’ The ‘present-historic’ form can also indicate a repeated action. Whan aa gets hyem aa aye myek ma tea. Past participles One of the ways in which Northumbrian verbs most differ from those of English are the past participles.